STILL MORE ON ARD BROWNING

Julia Casey responded to my previous article with some comments on the mother's side of the family and city directory listings. These provide a little more insight into Browning's early life.

Ard's parents were William Harrison Bolinbaugh (1839-1906) and Mary Virgil (1844-1897). Mary's parents were Baptist minister Almon Virgil (1799-1890) and Almira Stone (1815-1866). In addition to Mary, they had three children, Charles S. Virgil (1835- ), Dr. Thomas S. Virgil (1836-1899) and Almon Kincaid Virgil (1842-1921). Charles is untraced after 1850. Thomas was a prominent Indiana physician. Almon was a music teacher. It is Almon with the greatest connection to Ard Browning.

 

The 1870 city directory for Fort Wayne shows William Bolinbaugh living with his father-in-law Reverend Almon Virgil. William had a young family with a wife, a one-year-old son, and another son coming the following year. The elder Almon's wife had died four years earlier.

Everyone on the list is identified with a profession except William. Everyone has an address except Almon.

 

The 1883 Fort Wayne directory now shows William working as a sawyer. In the 1900 Census, A. W. Browning, age 30, was listed living in Manhattan as a boarder in the household of A. K. Virgil, age 60.

Almon Kincaid Virgil attended New York Central College in McGrawsville, New York, founded by Baptists in 1849. He later studied music in Europe. He held patent 13,262 on the practice clavier for teaching keyboard skills. In 1870 he was Principal of the Music Department at Fort Wayne College.

Almon was the father of Charles Stone Virgil (1867-1918). His mother is listed as Jennie Rich, but she is otherwise untraced.

Almon married Mary Hannah Mendenhall (1842-1938) on August 3, 1868, in Wayne County, Indiana. She was a music teacher. In the 1870 Census, Almon, Mary and Charles were living in Fort Wayne with a domestic servant. They were divorced on March 26, 1878.

Almon, age 39, was married in Des Moines on July 23, 1878, to a music teacher, Antha Minerva Minnie Patchen (1852-1939), age 26, They opened a music school together. They were divorced on May 8, 1902. Almon claimed his wife deserted him in 1896 to join a younger man and another music teacher and spiritualist in New York City. At the divorce hearing, A. W. Browning corroborated Virgil's statements.

In 1889 he published The Virgil Clavier Method: Foundation Exercises. He and Florence founded the Virgil Practice Clavier company in 1890 and The Virgil Piano school in 1891.

Almon Kincaid Virgil married Florence Dodd (1869-1944) on March 25, 1903, in Manhattan. She was younger than his son.

In 1913, Almon and Florence applied for a passport to travel for a year in England and Germany. It was issued without any problem. They were forced to leave Berlin in 1914 as hostilities broke out leading to the First World War. They attempted to return in 1919 but were denied a passport for travel that was not considered essential.

 

Almon died on October 16, 1921, and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Saint Petersburg, Florida, with his wife Florence.

Almon Kincaid Virgil was well known and respected from a family of professionals. Ard Browning came from a family of modest means and lived without attracting much attention. He achieved fame only from writing one book.

This is a listing of the places of residence for Ard Browning:

• January 12, 1869 Born in Chicago.
• 1870 Living with parents and grandfather, Almon Virgil in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• 1880 Living with parents and brother in Pierceton, Indiana.
• 1900 Boarder at 26 15 th Street in Manhattan, living with Uncle Almon Kincaid Virgil as foreman.
• 1905 Lodger in Manhattan.
• 1910 Lodger at 21 16 th Street in Manhattan, as clerk in a plumbing firm.
• 1915 In New York City.
• 1920 Employee at Central Islip State Hospital as stenographer.
• 1930 At Central Islip State Hospital as stenographer.
• May 24, 1933 Died in Chicago and buried at Schwenkfelder Church in Palm, Pennsylvania.

 

In the past twenty-five years, researchers have found various government records for Browning. No one has come up with stories about him or memories of meeting him.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ARD BROWNING DISCOVERY (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n44a13.html)

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